Kalamazoo College diver Will Guedes elated to win NCAA championship, but has bigger goals for the future

Kalamazoo College sophomore diver Will Guedes soars in the air during a dive at a meet this past season. The 19-year-old Brazil native won the Division III national championship in the 3-meter diving event.Courtesy K-College

KALAMAZOO, MI – He started out on his journey to the United States as a casual high school exchange student, but Will Guedes has made quite a splash recently.

Guedes, a Brasilia, Brazil native, caught the attention of the Kalamazoo College swimming and diving coaches while competing for a high school in South Bend, Ind., during his exchange program two years ago.

The K-College coaching staff knew it had to make a move on the young athlete and that intuition paid off as Guedes won the Division III national championship in the 3-meter diving event on Saturday in Shenandoah, Texas.

The sophomore's score of 572.50 was nearly 25 points higher than the nearest competitor.

Achieving that high score seemed to be a sense of relief for Guedes, who competed at the national finals in 2012 and according to K-College coach Kathy Milliken was the most graceful diver at the event, but a lack of difficulty in his dives resulted in a 12th place finish in the 3-meter event.

Feeling confident that he had a better approach entering this season, Guedes said the only pressure he put on himself was to make it to the finals, not win a championship.

Will Guedes

“I told myself that I had to make it to the finals,” the 19-year-old said. “Once I made it I just told myself, ‘Okay, just have fun.’ Winning it just means a lot because of the hard work.”

K-College diving coach Kyle Oberhill spotted Guedes at a meet in South Bend, Ind. a few years ago and said he immediately made a point to reach out to the Brazil native and gauge his interest in collegiate diving.

Oberhill, who described Guedes as having “all the things coaches are looking for, with his attitude, competitive spirit, focus and positive attitude,” said he saw an increased focus and drive in the 5-foot-7, 140-pound diver.

Guedes trained so hard he began piling up injuries so much so that he was forced to stay away from diving boards for three weeks during this past season.

“That’s a huge chunk of time,” Oberhill said. “That was right before MIAA championship. He was getting a little down. I was a little worried. We had to kind of pick up the pieces. We focused on doing less quantity and more quality repetitions.”

Kalamazoo College sophomore diver Will Guedes soars through the air during a dive at a meet this past season. He won the NCAA Division III national championship in the 3-meter diving event on Saturday.Courtesy K-College

Guedes, who was given a Cortisone shot at one point during his three-week hiatus from diving, credited K-College assistant athletic trainer Daniel Krasinski for working side-by-side with him to get back to full strength.

“I think what really made the difference was having a trainer working side by side with me because I had a season full of injuries,” Guedes said with a small laugh. “Having Daniel always working with me made a difference.”

Guedes said his short-term goal is to make it back to the national competition again and his bigger goal is the break the Kalamazoo College 3-meter (11 dives) record score of 669.05 set in 2000 by Jeff Gorton, who holds a total of three diving records.

Milliken said getting a taste of the national competition was maybe the best thing that could have happened for Guedes.

“He changed his goals from last year,” Milliken said. “I think going into nationals last year he didn’t know what to expect. He was really good at the conference level and got second place to a former national champion.”

“I think he kind of knew what the quality of diving was going to be and we got to the meet and he was 12th in 3-meter and I think he was kind of surprised by that because he hadn’t really seen any competition all year. He realized he had the skill and he did it correctly, but I think he realized at that meet he had to add a degree of difficulty. I think that was the big eye-opener.”

Guedes volunteers his time across the country from inner-city Chicago to the east coast during the Hurricane Sandy cleanup and excels in the classroom at K-College, where he is heavily involved in computer science competitions.

“He’s one of the most polite and gracious people you’ll ever meet,” Milliken said.

The humble sophomore said he would love to have the honor of representing Brazil in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

“I would love to make it to the Olympic Trials and I would love to compete in the Olympics, especially because it is in Brazil,” Guedes said. “I have to take it one step at a time, but I would love to make it to the Olympics.”